“We might have been through worse,” Sutton said, gulping down almost her whole glass in one sip, “but we might not recover from this one.”?
Chapter twenty-eight
MAGNOLIA
As I laid in the cool ceramic tub, trying to talk myself down from a panic attack, I heard a soft knock on the bathroom door. “Go away!” I yelled, figuring it was Lee. It had been months since he moved home, and it would be so poetic that he would find me back in the tub, crying yet again about marrying his brother.?
Only this time, I was going through with it.?
“Magnolia, it’s Janelle. Why don’t you go on and open up? Let’s have a bit of girl talk before your big party.”?
I rolled my eyes, climbed out of the tub, and clicked open the bathroom door. Backing up, I lifted my long, emerald-green dress and perched myself on the bathroom counter. Janelle locked the door behind her, crossed the long, tiled-floor bathroom, and promptly dropped her panties, sitting on the toilet to pee.?
“Oh, alright then,” I said, turning my head the other way. “We’re like that now, huh?”?
“Girl, we’re never going to be like that, but I had four Tito’s before coming here because, in the interest of girl talk, I am nervous as hell about tonight.” She wiped, flushed, and waltzed over to the sink to wash her hands.?
“You’renervous? Atmyengagement party? Man, you are self-involved, huh?”?
She let out a cackle and studied my face, crossing her arms. “Of course I’m nervous. My man is inlovewith you. I’m scared to death that he’s going to drop some huge bomb tonight while everyone’s toasting your engagement. He’s not the type to wait for the nuptials and the ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ shit. Especially when it concerns you.”?
I shook my head. “My God, Janelle. Let it go. I’m with Dane, and we’re getting married. And you’re on my goddamned payroll. Watch your mouth.”?
She tilted her head and played with the hem of her skirt. “He’s in love with you, Magnolia. He has been his entire life. I’ve listened to the albums, heard the stories. I lay in his bed sometimes and stare at the picture of the two of you from a summer a million years ago when you were just friends, and he loved you then, too.”?
Janelle paused to collect her thoughts, perhaps holding back tears.
“I’m not stupid. Lee and I are together because of circumstance, not fate. But you and him, that’s written in the stars. We all know it. Maybe not your fiancé, but the rest of us see it. Please, Magnolia, I have feelings for Lee. Don’t be selfish and mess this up for all of us.”
“Every single move I’ve made has been to keep things from getting screwed up again, Janelle.”
She met my eyes, and for the first time, I saw how much pain she was in. But we were both in pain. All of us were, in one way or another.?
“Lee is my friend. He always will be. But that’s it. That’s all there is to it.”?I bounced off the counter and flung open the bathroom door, stomping down the staircase of a house I hoped to own one day, toward a party I hoped to own today.?I found my brother fussing over Sutton’s wrapped hand in the breakfast nook, Lee sweating as he bounced around the kitchen, scrambling to put together plates of hors d’oeuvres.?“What the hell happened?” I demanded, rushing over to Sutton.?
“Easy, bridezilla. It was an accident,” Sutton snarled.
I flinched. “I’m worried about you. God, can you please stop being like this? Can’t anyone just be freaking happy for me?”?I grabbed a half-empty bottle of white wine conveniently sitting on the counter, sipped straight out of the bottle, and shot them all a dirty look before marching toward the veranda to my hiding spot behind the azalea bush.?
I sat there, stewing, gripping the bottle of wine like it could somehow cool down the heat rising in me. We all knew this was bullshit, but I had to go through with it. Too late to back out now, right? I glanced up at the big, whirling ceiling fan on the veranda, remembering how, as a kid, I’d come out here wishing for everything I had now.
And, for whatever reason, it still wasn’t enough.?
I wanted to marry Dane and get it over with. The second I was Magnolia Wilder, everything would be different. Maybe, once I signed the paperwork andDane and I got married, I could wiggle my way into a bigger share of the Trust and buy them all out, securing the fate of the bar on my own. And just like Eunice, I would live happily ever after on Jones Street in my big, southern townhome.?
When he wanted to be, Dane could be a good man. He worked hard. He was easy on the eyes. Since we’d been engaged and planning the wedding, he’d been less aggressive, like he won some sort of contest. He was calmer, more collected. Aside from the upcoming trial, which always had him on edge, he had a sweet demeanor about him, even with his brother lurking on the sidelines, watching our every move.
That would be good enough for the rest of my life, right?
Dane found me on the terrace, sipping straight out of a bottle and staring up at the ceiling. “Hey, baby, what are you doing out here?” He leaned in and kissed me on the top of my head, and I rubbed his back as he sat next to me.?
“Just a case of the nerves, is all. I’ll be in shortly. How are you feeling?”?
“I’m feeling good. Believe it or not, I’m a little nervous, too.”?
A quick laugh escaped me. “The unshakable Dane Wilder is afraid of a party? Color me shocked, y’all.”?
“It’s not the party, Magnolia. It’s you. It’s us. It’s Lee hovering around. You know, this isn’t exactly the situation I was hoping for when we said our nuptials.”?
